Town of Islip
Town Clerk Regina Duffy
Islip Town Clerk Regina V. Duffy has been a resident of the Town of Islip for more than 30 years. A graduate of William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens, she later attended Dowling College taking courses in both Accounting and Marketing.
Mrs. Duffy’s previous corporate experience has provided her with a solid background that helped pave her way to her elected position as Town Clerk. Two of her most notable positions were Payroll Specialist for NBC in Manhattan and Marketing Funds Specialist for Standard Microsystems in Hauppauge, where she managed a marketing budget of nearly $20 million dollars. In addition to those positions she has also served as supervisor and as Full-Charge Bookkeeper for various corporations, both small and large. Before being elected town clerk, Regina was appointed by the town council as Assistant Director and Treasurer of the Islip Foreign Trade Zone, an international business presence whose goal is to foster commerce and job creation for the Town of Islip.
Regina is an active member of the Town Clerks Association, a compendium of Town Clerks from Nassau and Suffolk Counties as well as Upstate New York and attends seminars, meetings and workshops that help to keep the Clerk’s Office up to date and on the cutting edge of municipal finance issues. In addition to her duties as Town Clerk Mrs. Duffy is the Records Management Officer for the Town of Islip Department of State Archives, and is the Office Operations Manager for her family business.
During her first week in office in January 2008, Regina instituted a new cash receipts procedure, replacing the existing method, which had possessed a possible potential for fraud in the manner in which cash paid to the town clerk’s office was handled. In addition, Mrs. Duffy began taking the first steps to move the office of Town Clerk into the age of modern technology. Since her election, new and improved computer systems have been introduced enabling residents to fill out forms to apply for permits online.
Mrs. Duffy’s innovations in the way the office handles paperwork has greatly reduced the amount of time needed to both apply and get results from the various Town of Islip departments. She has also instituted programs such as the one concerning dog licensing fees, wherein a portion of the fee collected, half in fact, goes directly back into supporting the animal shelter. The Marriage Room at Town Hall is one of the projects that Regina is most proud of. It is a room designed on a shoestring with extraordinary results where constituents can be married at no cost other than the NYS mandatory $40 marriage license fee, something that Regina is adamant about keeping that way.
In addition to all of this Mrs. Duffy maintains a very active presence in her community where she volunteers wherever she is needed and is an active member of Christ Community Church in East Islip. Besides being a former volunteer instructor for mentally challenged children, she is a long-time volunteer of the Town of Islip Hotline, working with residents who are in need of assistance in their most vulnerable state. Mrs. Duffy admits to being a “behind the scenes” volunteer who avoids the limelight. Her reward is in knowing that she is helping the constituents and seeing the smiles on their faces. Some of the issues important to Regina involve projects that aid our military personnel, protect our children and provide help to abused women.
Mrs. Duffy’s goal for her four-year term as town clerk is to reduce the total costs of operations in the Town Clerk’s Office while continuing to increase efficiencies and modernize procedures.
Regina Duffy is married and resides in East Islip where she and her husband raised their three children.